I posted this in the Hex thread but felt it was necessary to post it separately so more readers would see it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The prior posts about playing for a certain 'Homefield' advantage are BS--and I don't mean Big Soccer. Pathetic is all I can say of those who want us to play Mexico in a cold climate, far removed from any U.S. based mexican populations. We can beat Mexico ANYWHERE! We will likely beat them in the DF at Azteca as well! I mean we tied them with a not so great U.S. team in 1997 0-0 at Azteca in front of 114,000 rabid Mexico fans. Sure, we have this great land that is varied geographically, but do we only want to get through to the WC by saying "hey, we beat Mexico when it was 32 degrees outside at Crew Stadium and they aren't accustomed to the weather." We have to beat them when they present their best team and can give us the best challenge possible! Why? Brazil in the summer in Germany. That is a fact! The weather in Germany will be about 80 degrees when we go. We need to be able to beat ANYBODY in those conditions--PERIOD! Anything else is crap! I say US Vs. Mexico at the Rose Bowl, Reliant, Arrowhead, or anywhere else. People, what you need to realize is that WE HAVE ARRIVED! We aren't ranked 8th because we can't play with the big boys. We can and do! We now need to act like a team that is ranked in the Top 20 and quit this ideology that says we still have to look for any advantage we can get. Our advantage is now where it needs to be---in the SKILLED players that wear the USA jersey on the field during our matches. I also think the US team should play those big games in big stadiums to help the sport along here. A sold out Rose Bowl on National TV (ABC) can give a better impression than a sold out Crew Stadium. Yes, a US vs. Mexico match will sell out the Rose Bowl, Reliant, and Soldier Field. So what if the Mexico fans are there. What it means is that the home viewer will be like "damn, I need to make sure to get tickets the next time we play Mexico so the US crowd dominates--as it should since we are in the USA.! Would a US vs. Mexico game sell out anywhere in the Northeast? Maybe. Maybe NJ, but I am not so sure about Gillette. These matches are guaranteed sell outs in the Southwest/Pacific (Cali, Texas, and maybe Seattle). Also, playing carribean teams in cold weather is another sad venture. If we play them in November in Columbus fine, but let that only be because the schedule worked out that way, not because we were worrried about playing Jamaica in Miami. Our team is doing well and while not the perennial power we hope they will be, they are good enough to not have to schedule opponents based on climate, altitude, nor accumulation of a certain country's fans in a particular city or area. I understand getting the "W" is important. However, must we sacrifice our growing reputation in order to get it? I think not!
I couldn't agree more. We don't need to schedule all of our home games in oppressive climate situations. That's what Mexico does.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The following are also from comments I made in response to NOR CAL in the Hex thread. I moved them to this new thread since the subject is not specifically about the Hex. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Right On! NorCal. While we don't want to diminish the importance the East Coast has had on US Soccer, we also need to keep in mind that the West Coast and MidWest also lay claim to the same team and therefore deserve to have this team play throughout the nation. It is OUR "NATIONAL" TEAM after all. The whole Columbus, Gillete, RFK triangle is getting old. The importance of playing based on climate or amount of certain ethnic groups has diminished significantly the past couple of years. It's time for a new paradigm in US Soccer scheduling. Kind of like college football, we need to play better opponents in friendlies when possible and to play our WCQ games in situations that challenge our team as much as possible. Do people here think Brazil cares about climate? Sure. Do they have to really worry about it when the World Cup is always played for the most part in the Summer or warm periods? No. I would agree to a few games based on climate, but it shouldn't be obvious when one looks at our scheduling patterns for WCQ games. Even Brazil has had to play Bolivia during the cold season at a high altitude. For the US to rise to prominence, we must play the toughest schedules in the toughest situations when we can and yes, even for WCQ games as well. Only then can our team get the experience it needs to be able to go head to toe with the Brazilians or any other team. Let's face it, beating Brazil seems to be a pre-requisite for any team to win the Cup! I do think we are on the right path--Holland, Poland, Mexico, and Poland again for friendlies is the way to go. Now getting Germany, Korea, Turkey, and France every once in awhile wouldn't be bad either.
He's right. Climate control is over rated. I SAY LETS DO IT IN BIG D!, HOUSTON AS WELL! WHY NOT THE ORANGE BOWL! I'm feeling really damn good about this thread. I think that Mexico is zoned out and scared when they face us now. The boys can kick their arse any time, any place, any where. The mighty Tri Colores. Shaking in their boots when they see the Red White & Blue. Here come the Stars & Stripes.
After attending the Honduras qualifier at RFK in September '01, I couldn't disagree more. I felt like I was in Tegucigalpa, not Washington DC, and I'm sure the players did too.
Home field advantage is such a major part of not only soccer but all sports. You can take your pick of just about any sport and you'll find teams playing hard all season long just to secure home field advantage. While I agree that the US could beat Mexico in LA or Texas, it just isn't logical to subject our team to that sort of hostile environment when we don't have to. Why would we put a game in a city where ticket sales are going to be dominated by the opposition? Sure USA vs Mexico would sell out the big stadiums with the majority of the ticket sales going to Mexico and to me your typical non diehard soccer fan isn't going to watch a game at Reliant which is 65-70% pro Mexico and say "I need to go buy a ticket" they're going to say "Wow soccer in the States is a joke." and then flip to ESPN to watch Billiards reruns. I'm all for spreading the games around the US, but I am against getting rid of the home field strategy. I'm not concerned about the weather conditions as much as the crowd at the game. We don't need to play Mexico in Columbus every time we play them; however, putting Mexico in a smaller stadium in a city without a large Mexican population is logical. Why because the fans will predominantly support the US. Just think about how frustrating it would be for our players to get booed in their own country and after facing the hostile crowd in states have to travel to Central America for an even harsher crowd in a must win situation. We have arrived, we are a soccer nation, but on any day the best of the best can fail. Why take the added risk?
I would just like to say that I basically disagree with your premises. Almost all of them. The US team in 1997 put the 'B' in bunker in Azteca. We were non-competitors offensively. I don't ever want to see a US team forced into that pitiful a position again. Huh? Does anybody experience turmoil with this issue? I wonder if Mexicans have this clash of morality when they defeat teams in their hot, high altitude, smog smothered stadium. My guess? They don't. Why should they? What's the point? Who cares? This list goes on and on and on.... WC Qualifiers are not about beating teams in Germany. They are about, and only about, getting to Germany. That's why they are called 'Qualifiers'. Really? We've come far, but I think we still have a long way to go. How's our record in Europe look? Why should we not look for any advantage we can get? You say 'skill'...and automatically that means we don't try to take advantage of things beneficial to us? Why? What person / organization in their right mind disregards a gift that can only help them? Do you realize how many Mexican national team supporters there are in the LA area? Against Mexico, there will probably never be a US dominated crowd in LA. Again, why? What is the point? I'm not saying we always have to go to Columbus, but what I'm inferring from your post is that we should play in Miami because it's hot there and hot in Jamaica and we'll beat them in their own conditions because we're real men and that's the way real men do it. Tactics are a valuable part of the game, and they are not necessarily confined to the field. True, but once again, why not stack the odds in our favor? This is not a popularity contest. It's WC Qualifying, and qualifying can be like Mother Nature. Merciless. You don't trifle with it. Our reputation as a national team stems from our results, the competition we face, and what we win. Nobody gives a crap about whether or not we played Mexico in Columbus.
When it comes to WCQ, I want every advantage I can get...absolutely nothing left to chance. If they ever get around to building that 27K all seater in Prudhoe Bay, AK (Gates of the Arctic Stadium), I want every single US-Mexico qualifier in Alaska. I'd stick Jamaica in Laramie if I thought I could get away with it... You want to play Mexico in LA or Houston? Fine. Schedule a friendly. Never. Mess. With. WCQ. Never.
although i think we can beat mexico anywhere, why not put our team where they might get more fan support than in the southwest. another question we have to ask ourselves is: how do we get americans that are mexican to start cheering for the US and not mexico??? How many italian or irish AMERICANS cheer for italy or ireland instead of the US. If they were born in those countries, no problem but cheering for your natioanlity is a problem if you were born in the US
Climate is part of the home field advantage, so too is crowd support. So you want to sell out the Rose Bowl, great. But understand that it will be a pro-Mexico crowd. That's a great home field advantage FOR MEXICO! I agree, if we could find a staidium in Alaska, da#n right we should play there, in the qualifiers you utilize EVERY advantage you can.
You all realize that there are a lot of mexicans who go up to Alaska to work, right? That one is out as well. They pay pretty well up there, so even a $100 ticket price wouldn't keep them out of the stadium.
Agreed (except about playing Mexico in Alaska--as Bill said, there's a lot of Mexicans up there plus probably no American soccer fans). Play Mexico in Columbus (preferably in cold weather, altho the dates of each game are decided by luck of the draw, and since the bulk of the Hex is played during the summer there's only really 2 or 3 candidates for cold-weather games anyway). Play Carribean teams in Denver. Play anyone except Canada in a cold-weather climate if we have the opportunity to do so. If by some disaster we finish 4th in the Hex and end up playing a Middle Eastern team in the playoff, play them in Boston (in mid-November). That's what WCQ is all about. I'd love to see more friendlies against Mexico in LA, Honduras in Dallas, Poland in Chicago, Ireland in Boston, Brazil in Miami. But for WCQ you don't fvck around.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the next president of US Soccer, dberg077. With logic like this, your rise to the top is guaranteed. Or perhaps dberg is Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia?
They should play the game as far from Mexico as possible. It's always better, in any circumstance really, to have as few Mexicans as you can.
Hi. My name is Bruce Arena. Playing a WCQ against Mexico is LA or Houston or Chicago is an excellent idea. One which you can pursue when you pry the keys to the national team from my cold dead fingers.
I like the nice comments posted by those who are afraid to take on Mexico ANYWHERE at ANYTIME. WCQ for 2004/2005 is ALL ABOUT GERMANY! Some of you would rather we get by to get to the CUP, but not necessarily be prepared to face the World's Best on the biggest stage. Some of you would rather we have the same circumstances as the team we sent to France in 1998. Yes, it can happen again. For the poster saying Bruce would have a problem with it---I really doubt Bruce would have any problems with it. Bruce, unlike the poster, knows we need to play the toughest schedule possible in the run up to the Cup to be prepared to take on the Brazil's, Germany's, and Argentina's of the World. Yes, that may even include playing in stadiums where the crowds aren't 100% behind our national team. Please note that as the US National Team's popularity grows, the chance for foreign supporters to get tickets will diminish considerably! If we can't beat Mexico ANYTIME, ANYWHERE then how do you think we'll fare against the top 5 teams in the World. Yeah, didn't think so!
Of course we need to play good teams in hostile environments during the run-up to the cup. That's what FRIENDLIES are for.
92 posts and already mentally handicapped. A sad day. There's a reason why all teams salivate over the phrase "Home-Field Advantage".
If we had a stadium here in Atlanta besided Turner Field that could host a US v Mexico game Atlanta would be great. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that there are a sh!t load of Mexicans in and around Atlanta (which puzzles me) as well as many tohers that love soccer. We have cold winters, hot summers, and moderated climates in the other seasons so they could play anytime. The atmosphere would be grea. We could also play Korea because a sh!t load of them live here too. Too bad we don't have a good stadium for soccer though.
Hopefully KC will get another Hex game next year. They definitely deserve it more than anyone else save Chicago. If they do I'll be there.
Well, Silverback Stadium will be really nice, it's just going to be too small to be useful to US Soccer.
The only possibility is Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Filed (like 55,000). But they won't allow soccer because they say it ruins the field, this came up like 8 years ago when MLS considered Atlanta.
Oh, boo! Boo! If you play a game in Laramie, you will be overlooking equally freezing places with more fans, like Syracuse or Buffalo.
I don't doubt our ability to beat Meh-hee-coh in a WCQ even if it were in the LA Coliseum. However, I do know that this is not something that will ever happen under Bruce and maybe never again period. Every little psychological advantage.